1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display and input device, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that conventional image forming apparatuses have plural sorts of functions such as a copy function, a scan function, and a facsimile function. In general, such an image forming apparatus is equipped with a display and input device which receives a selection instruction of a function to be used among the plural sorts of functions, a setting instruction of the function, and so forth.
In some cases, the display and input device of the image forming apparatus may be equipped with not only a hardware key but also a display unit which includes a touch panel to display sorts of objects. Such object to be displayed by the display and input device includes, for example, a soft key to receive sorts of setting, a folder icon to indicate a place where image data is stored, and so forth.
When displaying plural objects, the display and input device positions the objects in array with a predetermined order (i.e. a predetermined screen layout). However, some user may want to change the position order of the plural objects. Therefore, in general, in a status where the plural objects are positioned in array, the display and input device is configured to enable to change the position order of the plural objects by moving any one of the plural objects.
For instance, when a user wants to move an object to a position between other two objects which are adjacent to each other, the user touches a display position of the object to be moved, moves the touched position to a position between the two objects which are adjacent to each other with keeping the touch (i.e. until the touched position reaches a position between the two objects which are adjacent to each other), and then releases the touch, and consequently, the object to be moved is moved to a position between the other two objects which are adjacent to each other. Thus, an object can be moved with a drag and drop operation.
If an effective display area of the display and input device is relatively large, then a lot of objects can be displayed in one screen without requiring a short interval between objects which are adjacent to each other (i.e. with keeping a long interval between objects which are adjacent to each other). Therefore, in this case, when a user wants to move an object to a position between two objects which are adjacent to each other, the user can properly touch a position between two objects which are adjacent to each other.
However, if an effective display area of the display and input device is relatively small, then displaying a lot of objects in one screen results in a short interval between objects which are adjacent to each other. Therefore, in this case, some users may not properly touch a position between two objects which are adjacent to each other. For instance, even though the user believes that he/she touches a position between two objects which are adjacent to each other, in fact, the user may touch a display position of the object. If a user does not properly touch a position between two objects which are adjacent to each other, the user can not move an object to be moved to a position between the two objects which are adjacent to each other. Further, the user has to do such a movement operation of an object again and again until the user properly touches a position between two objects which are adjacent to each other. Therefore, this causes inconvenience for the user.